1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for implementing an operational or functioning test on electrically-actuatable ignition or detonation-triggering circuits for ammunition, wherein the circuits are arranged on board the ammunition. Moreover, the invention relates to an arrangement for the implementation of an operational test of electrically-actuatable ignition or detonation-triggering circuits for the ammunition, wherein the circuits are arranged on board the ammunition.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Conceivable as an area of utilization for the invention is, in particular, the test firing and acceptance-firing for ammunition, which are fired in the type of spread or sprayed ammunition from an airborne launching container, such as the so-called runway cratering bomb (STABO) for the weapon system MW-1 (as disclosed in the article by Wolfgang Fume "MW-1--the multi-purpose weapon system", published in MILTECH Volume 2/85, pages 64, 70/72). In ammunition of that type, certain pyrotechnic power-generating elements are activated in a predetermined time sequence which is predetermined by the circuitry technology, so as to be able to generate certain mechanical ations, such as the outward extension of a distance or range-impact sensor; for instance, as is elucidated in greater detail in the disclosure of German Pat. No. 31 37 198. An electronic triggering origination sequence control circuit for such triggering circuits is described in more extensive detail in German Laid-Open Patent Appln. No. 33 17 376.
The problem which is encountered during the transition stage from development into manufacture, and in the acceptance of manufacturing tolerances is, that such ammunition, when it is fired under realistic or actual conditions and thereafter recovered, in the case of malfunctions of individual ignition or triggering circuits and thereby of the ammunition in its entirety, no longer allows for the drawing of any conclusions over the actual operational occurrences, encountered within the ammunition and as a result does not allow for any interpretation of eventual or future possible causes of malfunctions.
In view of the foregoing, in actual practice, advantage is taken of the currently available measures of that type in that, instead of the warhead or combat charge in the ammunition, there are built in circuits for the obtaining of test data and data storage, in order to be able to subsequently reconstruct the operating cycles of important electronic operational elements. This, however, necessitates the implementation of functionally significant modifications in the ammunition itself, so as to provide only conclusions within an extremely narrow scope over the behavior of the ammunition in the case of the latter being provided with its original equipment. Moreover, under certain circumstances, there must be met special measures for the safe recovery of the data storage, which adversely influence the ballistic behavior of the ammunition. The last-mentioned is also applicable when instead of the data storage on board of the ammunition, there is installed a telemetering-transmitting station, so as to be able to observe, on a real-time basis, the behavior of the ammunition during its period of flight. However, the space available within the ammunition is frequently inadequate to allow for a complete determination of test data and for telemetering.
A realistic operational test from the airborne passage is further encumbered by the disadvantage of complex preparations needed for the experimentation, and the high costs of the flight with lengthy searching actions required for the recovery of the dispersed ammunition. Finally, the flight safety prescriptions and the time which is required form restrictions with respect to the open acceptance over the entire range of the operational temperatures which must be proven; in effect, with regard to the possibilities, that certain loose parts or tolerances must be set after cooling down or after heating up, to extreme operational limiting temperatures, whereas during the time requirement for the air circulation there is again encountered a correlation with the environmental or surroundings temperature, as a result of which it is not possible to ensure the employment thereof under a defined extreme temperature.